Practice Toolbox

27 May 2011   buildlog   tools   shop   learning   firsts

In order to brush up on the sheet metal skills before working on actual airplane parts, I bought the toolbox practice kit. Besides just being good practice, the end result will be a nice looking small toolbox that will probably get some basic maintenance tools put in it and put in the back of the plane for most trips.

Start by deburring edges and assembling the ends:

       

Match drill, dimple, and rivet with flush rivets:

     

I wasn’t able to reach the middle rivets with the squeezer, so those will need to be bucked. Rivet guns are very noisy though, so it was already later in the evening than particularly acceptable for that. I don’t want to annoy the neighbors too much..

Next up is fitting the hinge for the top. First it gets marked and cut to length. Then the hinge is positioned on the box. Finally the hinge is positioned on the lid.

       

With the hinge assembled with cleco’s, the toolbox starts to look like an actual toolbox.

   

Session time: ~4 hours (not logging towards aircraft totals)